The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to condition tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security grant funding on states adopting major changes to how elections are run, according to documents and sources cited by CNN.
The draft guidance, expected to be sent to states later this month, would require a range of reforms as a condition for receiving DHS grant money. These include phasing out certain electronic voting systems in favor of hand-marked paper ballots, conducting mandatory election audits using methods developed under the Trump administration, and running state voter rolls through a federal citizenship verification system.
States would also need to verify the citizenship of poll workers using an approved federal database and submit compliance plans to federal authorities. Failure to meet the requirements could result in a loss of up to 20% of DHS grant funding.
Previously, DHS grant programs generally required only a small portion of funds—about 3%—to be spent on election security, rather than mandating specific system-wide reforms. A DHS spokesperson said no changes are final until formally announced and published through official channels, while reiterating that election security remains a national priority.
States potentially affected include Delaware, Georgia, Nevada, and South Carolina, as well as Los Angeles County.
